SiS began shipping the SiS756, a K8-based PCIe-supporting chipset this month, according to the company. In addition, the company started to volume ship two northbridge chips for Intel Pentium 4 CPUs, the SiS656 and SiS649 and one southbridge chip, the SiS965, said the company. The four chipsets all obtained PCIe compatibility certification, according to a November 16 press release.

VIA already started shipping its K8 PCIe-enabled chipsets, the K8T890 series, to its customers including four Taiwan-based first-tier motherboard makers, last month, the company noted.

Motherboard shipments in December are expected to slow on seasonal effects, according to sources in the Taiwan motherboard industry. The shipments are estimated to drop about 15% sequentially, the sources indicated.